Thieves' World

The Thieves' World was a Russian organized crime syndicate that served as the first incarnation of the Russian Mafia. The mobsters were originally peasants who stole from local landowners, becoming legendary "Robin Hood" figures and folk heroes. While in prison, their gang mentality began to form, and they banded together to oppose the Czars, swearing that they would never cooperate with the government and that they would stay loyal to each other. The Thieves' World was alive and well at the time of the Russian Revolution, and they even attempted to rob Vladimir Lenin in October 1907. Lenin created the Cheka secret police force to shoot bandits on sight, and Joseph Stalin attempted to crush the Thieves' World once and for all after seizing power in 1924. During the Great Purge, hundreds of thousands of people were executed and millions were imprisoned, but the thieves survived in prison, becoming known as the "Thieves in law".